


Fire and Skin

by OverthinkingFeathers



Category: Dragon Age, Dragon Age 2, Dragon Age II
Genre: Brief Mahariel, M/M, Soulmate AU, Soulmate-Identifying Marks
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-01-18
Updated: 2017-01-18
Packaged: 2018-09-18 09:02:36
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Major Character Death
Chapters: 1
Words: 832
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/9377756
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/OverthinkingFeathers/pseuds/OverthinkingFeathers
Summary: Anders's mark changes over time, and so does his mindset. Soulmate mark AU.





	

It comes after the fire. 

It helps a bit, looking at the slowly growing symbol at camp, when the Templars tire of marching him to the Circle. His parents may have rejected him, but this is proof that someone out there will love and support him. 

He learns to trace the lines with his eyes closed.   
_____________________________________________

It's after their first kiss when Karl shows him his mark. It's on a different arm, stronger and with fewer freckles, but the pattern curves and flows in the same places. 

Anders starts laughing and can't stop. He's spent every escape looking for his match, and the whole time his other half was two rooms over. They cling to each other, giddy and thrilled, and he feels whole.   
_____________________________________________

The Circle doesn't allow soulmates to be housed in the same tower, but Anders is valuable and, in the right mood, charming. Stay cooperative, they tell him, and we'll overlook it just this once. 

It's a bitter pill to swallow, but he can make a home anywhere with Karl. They still sit side by side in the library and talk about traveling the country, but they're just dreams now.   
_____________________________________________

They take him anyway. 

"Kirkwall needed new talent," Irving says, copying a scroll on his desk. He won't look at Anders. "To be frank, you should be grateful you had as much time as you did. Most mages never get any."   
_____________________________________________

The lines start to straighten after he becomes a Grey Warden. The process is painful, so unlike when it first appeared, and more than once Anders wakes with the sensation that his arm is on fire. He finally asks Mahariel about her own mark, desperate to know if the darkspawn blood has that effect. She answers too quietly for him to hear, the topic obviously painful, and he doesn't ask again. None of the other new recruits seem to have a problem. 

He doesn't know what's happening. Letters to Karl are few and far between, hard to code and harder to smuggle, but the few he gets don't mention the mark. He agonizes over his replies, his arm covered in salve, his floor in crumpled papers. 

Eventually he decides to keep his worry to himself. Karl is his soulmate, and nothing can change that.   
_____________________________________________

It's only been a week since it stopped hurting when he finally sees Karl again. Karl reaches up to touch his face as he's pleading, sleeve slipping back, and Anders looks. He doesn't want to know. He can't stop himself.   
_____________________________________________

He tries to burn it from his skin later that night. The skin scorches and bubbles, and every second is pure agony, but he deserves no less. If he hadn't been marked, if the Templars and the Circle hadn't known, Karl wouldn't have been top of the list to go to Kirkwall. This chain started with bare skin and fire, and he intends to end it the same way. 

He doesn't know the new mark by heart, can't picture its lines against his skin, and there's some small comfort in that.   
_____________________________________________

Hawke comes in for the maps the next morning. His arm is angry and red, blistered and burned, and Anders suddenly can't breathe.   
_____________________________________________

Hawke is unabashed about his mark, even with a burn scar surrounding it. He keeps his arms bare, the ink obvious against his skin. Sometimes, when he catches Anders staring, he grins and flexes. 

The symbols match. Anders has watched his reappear against newly healed skin, has spent long nights staring at his arm and thinking about Hawke's. He longs to hold them together, skin against skin, just to be completely sure. He wants to feel whole again. 

Instead, he keeps it hidden from everyone, insisting on staying covered at all times. People think he's embarrassed of a scar, and he doesn't correct them.   
_____________________________________________

He doesn't know how to confess. It's been too many years to pretend he didn't notice, and Hawke hasn't listened to his warnings. But he can't live like this any longer, can't keep holding himself back. 

He plans and replans explanations the whole walk to Hightown, but when he get there, he can't say any of them. He skirts around the issue, talks about love instead, and hopes Hawke understands. 

He's forgotten by the time he's pulling off his shirt, lost in need and desire, and it's not until Hawke gently raises his arm that he remembers. 

"I," he starts, but words won't come any further than that. His heart is in his throat, and he doesn't know what he'll do if Hawke asks him to go. 

But Hawke is staring at his arm, smile slowly growing on his face. It's not the casual grin he normally gives, but something soft, unfocused, like this is all a wondrous dream. He turns Anders's arm back and forth, marveling at the mark, letting firelight reflect off it, and Anders feels dizzy with relief. 

This time, everything will be ok.


End file.
